Best Job Ever
by terrymaxmcg
Summary: A normal after school job has some odd consequences for one of Terry's friends.


AN: I'm a Terry/Max shipper, so if that offends you, you def don't want to read my stuff. I also tend to be somewhat explicit. If that isn't your thing, ditto. Thanks in advance for reading.

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><p>Terry McGinnis had been looking forward to his Genetics class all morning, because he figured it would be a prime chance for him to get some sleep.<p>

It was always a long night whenever the Venom smugglers decided to get cute in their methods of importing the goods. This time, they'd tried to run their merchandise through Gotham's extensive sewer system.

As Batman, Terry had been up for hours rounding up the criminals and up for hours more trying to get _that smell _out of his hair. His little 15-minute catnap in Homeroom hadn't cut it and Terry could barely keep his eyes open.

But his slumber plans immediately changed when he saw two of Gotham's finest coming toward him in the hallway, both officers looking rather grim-faced. Terry immediately got nervous, flashing back to when two such officers took him away from his parents and tossed him into Juvie. He stared at the men, but they passed him without a second glance, walking briskly to the other end of the hall. Terry looked over his shoulder and saw them make the turn that would lead them to the office of Principal Nakamura.

_Huh_. _Weird … _

Terry frowned heavily. Generally when the cops visited Hamilton Hill High, it was never just to collect donations for the policemans' ball. He couldn't think of what could be going on, though. Other than the hover-hockey team playing like dregs, nothing criminal had taken place inside the halls of his school. Not that he _knew _of, anyway.

Terry made a mental note to nose around later to determine the reason for the visit, but just as he was about to turn away and resume his walk to class, a pair of figures turned into the hallway, making the same trip as the policemen.

One of the people was a man with a heavy, sleepy look, a long coat and mussed hair. Despite his sloppy appearance, Terry knew a plainclothes cop when he saw one. But it was the person with the cop that made Terry stop and stare. Looking very nervous and shaken was his friend Jared Tate.

When they made the turn to go to Nakamura's office, Terry hurried down the hall after them, stopping at the juncture where the main hallway branched off in different directions. He peered quickly around the corner and saw the cop pat Jared's back in a friendly manner.

"You go on in, son. I'll be along in a sec."

Jared swallowed hard, but nodded and entered the principal's office with the same expression as if he were going to face a firing squad. Terry watched the other man watch Jared, and he just barely pulled his head back when the cop looked up and down the hall. Pressed against the wall tightly, Terry tried to think of an excuse if the cop caught up to him and asked him what he was up to. He waited for footsteps, and was surprised, instead, to hear the man speaking rather loudly into a cellphone.

"… Yeah, this is Noddy. I'm here with the kid at his school. He check out? … Yeah? Yeah. Okay. Okay, good. Seemed like a good kid to me, so I'm not too surprised. Gotta talk to him anyway. I'll check in when I'm done."

Terry heard a door open and close and after a moment, he craned his head slowly around the corner to have a look. The corridor was empty.

He hesitated for just a moment and then fished out his cellphone to call one of the few people who could probably tell him what the heck was going on.

"Wayne."

"It's me." Terry lowered his voice, and it came very close to the tone he used whenever he was in the suit. "Got a minute?"

"A minute. I've got a Wayne-Powers board of directors vidconference soon," was Bruce Wayne's gruff answer. "Isn't this fourth period for you? Aka, nap time?"

Terry blinked. "I'm not even gonna ask how you know that."

"Just as well. What's going on?"

"I was hoping you could tell me. GCPD's at Hill and basically just frog-marched my friend Jared Tate into the principal's office. Guy in a suit's running the show. I think his name's Noddy. Know him?"

There was a pause, and then Bruce said: "Jim Noddy is one of the force's top criminal investigators. He usually handles cases involving illegal weapons. And not the pop guns your Venom-running friends were using last night – major artillery."

The teeenager frowned again. "What would a cop who handles high-grade weapon crimes want with Jared? I heard Noddy on the phone with somebody. Sounds like they did a background check on him."

"Maybe it's something having to do with his stepfather," said Wayne. "Big-time weapons _are _his specialty, after all."

"Yeah …" Terry could barely believe that almost a year had passed since Jim Tate had wreaked havoc on Gotham as the reluctant villain Armory. Jared didn't talk much about it except once when he'd mentioned that he and his mother visited his stepdad every month up at Blackgate.

"But what would they want to talk to Jared about? I mean, his dad's still in prison, right?"

"Maybe not for long. I heard a couple of weeks ago that Jim Tate may be up for early release. Word is that the Feds want to retain him for a special _project_. Men with Tate's skillset are rare – and usually expensive. Offering him parole in exchange for his expertise is a bargain. They may want to just talk to Jared and make sure Jim Tate hasn't been telling tales out of school."

"Maybe that's it." Terry scowled a little. "Hey, wait a minute. You heard about this a couple of_ weeks_ ago and you didn't tell me?"

"I figured you would've heard it from Jared. He is _your _friend … isn't he?"

"Um." Terry bit his lip. "Well, yeah. Except … well, he and Max sort of had a _thing_ …"

"A … _thing_?"

"C'mon, Bruce, it hasn't been _that _long for you, has it?"

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that. Unless you really want an answer. In _detail_."

"Uh … no thanks." Terry shuddered slightly. "Anyway, it ended, and I got the sense that it wasn't exactly Jared's idea. And since Max hangs out with me and Dana at school …"

"… He's been keeping his distance."

"Right."

"I could do some checking to see where Tate's lawyers are in getting things ironed out, but I don't think there's anything to worry about as far as your friend's concerned."

"Maybe not," murmured Terry. "But why wouldn't the Feds be questioning Jared? This doesn't seem like the sort of thing they'd outsource to GCPD."

"Noddy has friends in high places. Maybe they reached out for a favor. I can try to find out what he's working on. In the meantime, it wouldn't hurt you to keep your ears open."

"I'll see what I can find out. You could be right, but Jared didn't look like he was expecting just a _friendly_ chat."

"Keep me posted."

Terry murmured a goodbye, and took another peek down the hallway. It was still almost unnaturally quiet.

He turned and slowly resumed his walk to class, suddenly not feeling all that tired any more.

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><p>Terry entered the lunchroom surreptitiously looking around for Jared, but not seeing him in the sea of faces. He hadn't been in any of the classes he shared with Terry all morning and it was starting to bug him a little. He didn't think Jared could be in any trouble, and yet –<p>

"Terry! _There_ you are."

"Huh?" Terry was startled, but relaxed at the sight of his girlfriend, Dana Tan. "Oh. Hey, Dane. Uh … you haven't seen –"

"Sorry, can't talk." She shook her head quickly. "There's an emergency; I'm just on my way out."

"Emergency?" He was alarmed. "What? Where? Can I do anything?"

"No, sorry. Girls only," said Dana shrugging. "Jergen e-mailed Blade that he wants to get back together and she's trying to figure out the best vid from ZToob to send him as an answer."

Terry stared at her. "You're gonna miss lunch for _that_?"

"Blade would do the same for me." Dana moved past him. "I'll text you later on about tonight, okay?"

"Schway," muttered Terry at her retreating back. Sometimes he was reminded of the time when his dad had given him "the talk" about girls. Warren McGinnis had finished with: " ... But sometimes, Terry, you won't understand anything they say or do. Not _anything_."

Back then, Terry had thought his dad was talking about his mother since that was about the time his folks started having real problems, but now Terry wondered if his father had somehow been able to see into the future and accurately predict his relationship with Dana.

Sighing, Terry took another glance around the cafeteria. There was still no sign of Jared, but his gaze did fall on the welcome sight of Maxine Gibson alone at a lunch table with what passed for a milkshake in the Hill High lunchroom. Terry remembered that he and Max had been going over Trig notes before the Venom smugglers decided to make his night crappy – literally.

Shrugging his shoulders, he headed toward the pink-haired girl's table. "Hey, Max."

"Ter! I was wondering where you'd gotten to." She looked up at him with a smile and gestured to her cup. "I'd offer you some of this, but I won't do that to Gotham City."

"Haha. You must've gotten the peanut butter-banana again." He took a seat opposite her. "Why aren't you at Blade's 'emergency meeting'?"

"Oh, please. Blade doesn't even want to hear what kind of song _I _think she should send Jergen." Max rolled her eyes. "Besides, they'll be broken up again in another week, tops. So you saw Dana?"

"Just for a second, yeah." Terry looked around again. "But I was really hoping to see Jared."

"Jared? I think I saw him before first period," she said. "Then again, I wasn't exactly looking for him."

"Ouch." Terry eyed her closely. "Y'know, one of these days you're going to have to tell me just what went down with you two."

"Nothing. And I mean that figuratively _and _literally."

Terry frowned for a moment, and then he got it. His cheeks flamed red as Max laughed at him.

"Geez, Max, waaay TMI!"

"Says the boy who tells me _alll _the special places a certain _suit_ chafes him," she said smirking. "Anyway, I'm serious. Jared's a schway guy and all, but we just weren't compatible in a lot of ways. I figured Dana would've given you the scoop about all that by now."

"Why would you think that? Our date tonight is probably the first time in a month we've been able to have some, um, alone time."

"Right. But I guess it's just how she was so bummed about me and Jared not working out," said Max with a shrug. "I told her that part of the problem was that me and him were on different schedules. He had this afterschool job that was taking up a lot of his time and we hardly ever saw each other. Dana said she could relate."

"I'll bet," he muttered.

"Not so much." Max made a sour face. "There's a big difference between keeping contraband mutagen off the streets and renting out _Chainsaw Cheerleaders _to horny frat guys at GSU."

"What?"

"Jared's job – he was working at a vid store," said Max. "Weird hours. If it were any other guy, I would've thought he was putting in work doing something _else_, but he was really into it. Said it was a schway job and he wished he could work more hours. He seemed to think it would really put him on the fast track."

"I don't get it," said Terry. "I can't see how he'd think putting Sentry-heads on the waiting list for _The Dark Regent Rises_ could be considered some sort of career move."

"To each his own." Max shrugged. "Jared was jazzed about this gig. I came down once. He barely noticed I was there. It's a bit of a buzzkill when your boyfriend thinks buffing the Cheez Dingles machine to a high shine is more important than taking you to dinner."

"Yikes. That doesn't really sound like Jared," said Terry with a frown. "I mean, I love the guy, but 'workaholic' is really the last word I'd ever use to describe him."

"Well, I didn't want to throw a spiz fit about it. He was helping his mom. They've really been scrambling with bills," Max said softly. "I mean, if it wasn't for my folks sending me and my sister money every month, I'd probably be working the burrito assembly line at _Dos Tres Quatro_, or something. Jared was doing what he had to do, but it just wasn't working for me, so I ended it."

"Hmmm." Terry was lost in thought for a second. "Did he ever talk about his stepdad? Or anything connected with him?"

"Not really." Max studied him. "What gives? You're more interested in Jared than _I've_ ever been, and I dated him. Something you want to tell me, Terry?"

Casting a quick glance around, Terry lowered his voice and filled Max in on what he saw and his conversation with Wayne. Her eyes widened and she looked surprised, but as Terry went on, her expression turned thoughtful.

"I think the old man might be on to something. If the Feds spring Mr. Tate in exchange for some off-the-books work, he won't even be able to go to the bathroom without clearing it with them first. Maybe they're trying to see how much of a liability he could be."

"Liability? What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ter, think about it. Mr. Tate was willing to become Armory to keep Jared and his mom in the lap of luxury," said Max. "If certain people were to find out he was working on a special government project, who's to say they wouldn't try putting the squeeze on him by threatening Jared? Or his mom? Or both?"

Terry's eyes snapped open wide. "Whoa … I didn't think of it that way. You're right. The Tates would probably need round the clock protection. They might even have to move."

"Right." Max nodded. "I'm thinking the Feds are putting out feelers to see if it's worth the possible risks. The bad guys aren't stupid – well, most of 'em aren't – and those sort of projects usually don't stay secret for long."

"Wayne's going to do some digging around to see just how close Mr. Tate is to being released," said Terry. "I guess we'll know a little more then."

"Let me know what you find out. In the meantime, I'm still coming over to your place tonight around 7, right?"

"Yeah. I really appreciate you baby-sitting the squirt. He loves it when you come over." Terry's eyes twinkled. "I think he has a crush on you, Max."

"Nah, he's at least two or three years away from flipping off the 'Girls are Icky' switch," Max said with a grin. "He just likes that I know all the fatality codes for DoomFighter Alpha. He gets a kick out of it when I do the buzzsaw one with Lung Kao."

Terry shook his head. "You're turning my kid brother into a freak."

"Hey, _somebody's _gotta do it." She rested her chin on her hand. "So, I hear you and Dana are going to that schway place downtown with the zero-g dance floor."

"Yeah. Chelsea talked it up because Rick took her there a couple months ago, so Dana's been on me for weeks to go there." Terry shrugged. "I'd rather see a movie or something. Or maybe take a walk."

"Uh-uh, McGinnis. Dana's folks are away this week. You do _whatever_ that girl wants you to do, and I bet you'll be amply rewarded." Max grinned at him.

Terry blushed bright red. "_Any_way, my mom's meeting is gonna run way late and she wants you take some creds for sitting with Matt. She won't take no for an answer this time."

"All right, but I'm happy to do it. You guys are doing me a favor, too," said Max. "Anything beats sitting home listening to my sister talk about her man troubles."

"Mariana has 'man troubles' now?" Terry raised an eyebrow. "What happened to that twip from Bludhaven? The electrical engineer?"

"Oh him? He fell into a black hole," said Max with a smirk. "And not the one he was _hoping _to fall into, either."

Against his better judgment, Terry had decided to try some of Max's shake, but at those words he spewed it into the air.

"**MAX**!"

"I'll never get tired of seeing that expression on your face, McGinnis," said Max chuckling as she handed him a napkin.


End file.
